Aberdeen Man’s Railroad Memorabilia on Track to NSU

ABERDEEN - An Aberdeen man devoted to preserving the history of South Dakota's railroads has given decades' worth of schematics, ledgers and other documents to a Northern State University library.

Eighty-nine-year-old George Nikolas worked with railroad companies and state rail boards for more than 70 years. He says he kept paper from each meeting he attended, filling more than 30 cardboard boxes and tubes. He has given the collection to the Beulah Williams Library.

Nicholas tells the American News that he'd kept the documents in his garage for years. When people would call and ask him a rail question, he'd go find them the answer. He says he considered it a public service.

Lynn Klundt, a librarian at Northern, says that among the rarer items Nikolas donated are blueprints and maps.